I recently heard a claim about sugar being more addictive than cocaine.

Now I know it’s really easy for us to “google” things or listen to other “professionals” talk about such claims and take their word for it, but how often do we actually look at the scientific research ourselves before making such claims? I do because I think it’s really important to look things up properly, but not only that but to try and keep and open mind and a holistic view on everything. I’m not perfect, but I always try my best to look things up myself.

In situations like this I get really upset when misleading claims are made. Mainly because of my past experiences with food issues. But also to my knowledge there is insufficient scientific evidence to prove that sugar itself is addictive to humans. To claim that it is more addictive than cocaine to me is VERY ridiculous. Now don’t look at me as if I’m crazy. You are talking to a former “food addict”. I was the girl that claimed she was addicted to sugar. I followed every “Fad” that told me to cut sugar out, and I did, many times, and failed, and then did it again, and failed. It was exhausting!

So having gone from the girl who couldn’t control herself around sweets, especially chocolate. To the girl who is now a moderation and portion control queen. I can tell you that sugar in itself is not addictive like cocaine.

I’ll explain in a minute.

First of all lets just also say that when we say the word sugar that there are naturally occurring sugars as well. So if we speak of the term sugar, we are referring to sugar in fruit, honey among other things And in my opinion anyone telling you to give up fruit for no good reason is cray cray. So what I think people mean by sugar is the refined stuff – or “Table” sugar. But I hate using the words sugar and bad in the same sentence. Because fruit is not BAD ok?

I don’t think that demonizing sugar is ok. Demonizing any type of FOOD is not ok. Being concerned about the refining and processing of food, yeah ok, sure, that’s where health comes into play and we want to be healthy babes, right? But sugar itself? Nope, not the bad guy. Refined foods? Yep should be limited if we want to be healthy. HOWEVER, having forbidden foods, or cutting foods out. NOT OKAY in my experience.

Keep in mind how often do you actually eat the “white” stuff in isolation?

Like if you are soooooo addicted to sugar like it was cocaine you would happily sit there and spoon it out of the canister, right? Hmmmmm don’t think I’ve ever done that…have you? So use common sense here ladies. If sugar is in fact as addictive as cocaine, then technically wouldn’t you just eat it on it’s own? But we don’t. We eat it in combination with other things. Thus making food quite palatable to most.

So can sugar release dopamine? Yes, because when mixed in with other things it is highly palatable and makes us feel good. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers. But keep in mind that dopamine is released with anything that involves pleasure such as having sex, hugging my dog, falling in love, using my mobile phone So like where do we draw the line?

See in my opinion we are meant to eat sweet foods. We have taste buds for that right? So why then do some people have such a desire to over eat sugar, whilst others can happily push away that slice of cake or bowl of ice-cream and say “I’m done”.

There’s one thing to keep in mind here babes and it is that the very act of dieting or the dieting mindset in itself promotes eating issues and the inability to say no to food. Why? Because we are using our heads to make a decision that should be about tuning into our bodies. Telling yourself that sugar is a drug and is addictive is pretty much the very thing that keeps you “addicted”.

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